Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-02-03
HOW BACHELORS LIVE IN NEW YORK.
A Serene and Careless Existence in Big Apart.
ment Houses-The Old University Build
ings-

A Serene and Careless Existence in Big Apart
ment Houses-The Old University Build
ings-
New York Tribune
Nothing, perhaps, could emphasize
more strongly the drift of things here
among young men, toward bachelorhood,
than the remarkable growth in late years
of the bachelor apartment-ho system.
Ten years ago, with the exception of the
university building in East Washington
avenue, there was not single big lodg-
ing house of any standing given over ex-
cluslvely to men. Now there are dozens
of them of all grades and sizes, from the
coy three-story one down some side
street, trlfle bohemian, with single
rooms and entire seclusion and comfort,
to the tall fashionable pile which fronts
on some square or park or avenue, full of
handsome suites and costly furnishings.
The rich curtain and decorated walls, the
polished brass and mirrors, the wealth of
pictures in these parlors and lQunging
rooms carry one back to the extravaganza
of the newest and most expensive college
halls in Cambridge and New Haven. But
here there Is more formal note of lux
ury, the finish and precision of harden
ing bachelorhood, solidity of personal
comfort which the gay. changing college
life misses.
1t would, in fact, be hard to fiEd rooms
more substantially comfortable than those
In the best bachelor apartment-houses.
Light, warmth, airiness, beauty, quiet,
independence-one can have all these at
not too great expense, and with almost
no personal trouble. Add to these a Sc
rene and careless life, and one has the
very ideal of bachelorhood.
There was little of this however, fifteen
Or twenty years ago in the University
building where the bachelor life had it's
stronghold then and from which all this
new apartment system has developed.
The big, square marble building with Its
shortened towers, was long ago found too
large for its students, and to help the col
lege treasury along nearly half its rooms
were let to bachelor tenants. The Waiver
ly place wing was shut off from the main
building as much as possible, doors were
cut as convenience through the inner
walls to make suites, or barred up again
to please tenants who wanted only single
rooms. The east corner of Washington
square was then-and always will be per-
haps-a choice spot IN the city. The
trees and fountains in the park gave
pleasant outlook and charming GOODNESS
through seven months of the year, and
airiness and brightness at least through
the other five. Washington square was
nearer the heart of the city than it is now.
The New York hotel inst behind the uni
versity was then in its balmy days, and
good restaurants and theaters were near
it.
The rooms too, were fair for those
days. All of them had thick walls and
high ceilings, with broad windows in
crusted In heavy stone walls with cor
nices. There was no running water it is
true, and steam heaters and hot air regis
tiers we're alike unknown. The rooms
we're warmed partly by the sun, partly
by open CRATE fires Or stoves. Coal and
gas were extras. So was all but the min
ium of service.
Yet the ease and freedom of life in the
big college building must have been de-
llghtful. Rooms were taken bare of
everything except the paper left by the
last tenant on the wall, and were furnish
ed to suit the taste or pocketbook of the
owner. Once inside the hall door of eth
er wing one was in perfect seclusion.
Tenants on one floor scarcely knew those.
on another by sight. It was only neces-
sary to "sport ones oak" and even the
janitor's assistants would not break ones
peace for three days or a week. Goings
and comlngs were unquestioned, with no.
modern officer in the doorway to watch
ones ms and outs. Nothing could be-
more unhampered or Bohemian, and the
lodges used to think their building a
sort of new fashioned inns of court, even
though the rooms were far less dingy and
tlme-wOrn and gray with memories of the
lives of past tenants than those in which
Warrington and Pendennis wrote and
TESTED, and which PENS cousin Laura, for
all their dust and disarray and lack of
feminine prettiness, found SO attractive
ly queer. Many journalists and literary
men have lived in the University build
ing, too, from time to time. William
Henry Hurlbut had rooms there while
he was editor of the World, and was
well-knOwn figure in and about Washing
ton square.
The University of the City
of New York has not grown up to the
size of its big halls even now, and baehel-
or apartments, chiefly as before in the
two wings, are still to let. About forty
suites some of item two rooms and a
bath room, some of one room merely and
and an alcove-are now rented to men
who have no connection with the insti-
IusIoH' Inc Dest suites, DOtn In WaVerly
place AID Washington place, cost 700
year. This of course includes service,
but not coal or gas. The other suites
rent according to size and location, for
$3.50, $500, $400,:or $500. The janitor
as in most other colleges, will do ones
business for him, buy the coal and por-
ton it out, supply oil and furnish all ex-
ira services. The University building
is always well filled, although the ste ady
march of things up town has left it high
and dry ont of the syziIra of lifo ar,d rIono-